HEIF/HEIC support with PhotoStructure

December 31, 2020

Why? #

Several smartphones default to storing photos as .heic, rather than .jpeg. These .heic files are compressed with the High Efficiency Image File Format. Unfortunately, due to patent and licensing issues, it’s up to you to manually install one of these software packages on your own computer if you’re not on macOS.

macOS installation #

On macOS, you’re already all set. PhotoStructure (as of v1.0.0) uses sips, which is installed as part of macOS, and has been since 10.3.

Linux/Debian/Ubuntu installation #

On other platforms, PhotoStructure looks for an externally-installed copy of heif-convert, which is part of libheif.

Open a terminal and run

sudo apt install libheif-examples

Windows 10 installation #

Note: As you should with all software, scan any installer or archive with your antivirus software before running it. VirusTotal scans any file with many different antivirus engines simultaneously, and is free to use.

Option 1: Use Cygwin #

If you’re already using cygwin, just install the libheif-tool package:

Launch the Cygwin setup-x86_64.exe
Bounce on the “Next” buttons until you get to the Select Packages window.
In the View pulldown, select Full.
Type libheif-tool into the Search box
In the New column, pick the latest version (currently 1.10.0-1)
Click Next.

PhotoStructure will automatically look in C:\cygwin64\bin (after looking at all other directories already in your %PATH%).

Option 2: Install manually #

Download the Windows binary build of libheif from github.
Extract the contents of the .7z archive. You may need to install 7zip to open and extract the archive.
Move heif-convert.exe into a directory that is in your %PATH%. Alternatively, set the PS_HEIF_CONVERT_PATH environment variable to the full native path to the binary.

Verify the installation #

Start PhotoStructure and open the About window. Verify that there’s a green checkmark by HEIF support:

Screenshot of PhotoStructure’s about page (v1.0.0)